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SANDV (O<» ) POST Thur»
May 7 1987 (S»c 11
The Sandy Post
Editorial & Opinion
S co tt N e w to n , e d ito r
K im b e rly N e lso n
a d v e rtis in g re p re s e n ta tiv e
Keep schools open
with safety net
Measure Two, the school safety net, will not provide for an
equal educational opportunity in Oregon.
Without further action from the Oregon legislature, it
would allow districts such as Sandy Elementary and Sandy
High School to slowly strangulate.
Despite its drawbacks, we urge voters to approve it in the
special, statewide election May 19.
About 60 percent of the school districts in the state have up-
to-date tax bases and are automatically allowed 6 percent
growth. The other 40 percent — the ones affected by the safety
net would not be allowed any growth in their budgets unless
voters in those districts passed tax bases or additional
operating levies.
However, operating on 1986-87 budgets would at least allow
communities to keep schools open.
If we define a fair compromise as one th*»t makes both sides
uphappy, this measure meets the standard.
Though it was endorsed by the Oregon School Boards
Association, the Oregon Education Association and the
Oregon Eederation of Teachers, and the Confederation of
Oregon School Administrators, it does not enjoy popularity
among board members, teachers or administrators.
Educators do not like the safety net because in budgets that
are 75 percent personnel, with built-in salary increases, the
only place to make cuts is to reduce the number of teachers
and specialists.
If teachers decide to work without raises, it will put disti lets
such as Sandy Elementary and Sandy High School at a disad
vantage. They would not be competitive statewide when it
came to hiring or retaining good teachers.
This is one major flaw in the measure. Districts with tax
bases will continue to prosper, the rest will suffer. The result
will be an even greater disparity in educational programs
across the state.
Taxpayers are not going to come out the winners with the
safety net either. The safety net will not reduce the burden of
high property taxes, or the unfair burden homeowners have in
districts without industries to help foot the bill for schools.
What is really needed is an alternative source of funding
such as a sales tax.
The safety net is nothing more than a public relations ploy-
being promoted by a powerful governor who knows he can t
sell Oregon to out-of-state businesses if schools are going to
close.
About 189 of the 304 school districts in Oregon have up-to-
date tax bases. The rest, like Sandy Elementary and Sandy-
High School, vote for operating levies as often as three or four
times a year.
About September or October the prospect of school closures
comes into play and the debate over school budgets ceases to
be rational.
, . ,
It could be argued that Sandy has used the threat of school
closures to develop decent educational programs.
But we like the idea of taking the threat of school closures
away from school districts. An optimist would hope the result
would be more rational debate about school issues.
The most important issue is keeping children in school.
Despite the many drawbacks in the safety net, people should
vote for it for that reason.
Law limits liability
of corporate boards
by JACK ZIM MERM AN
Associated Oregon industries
Zipping through the legislative pro
cess in Salem with little fanfare was
a b ill that many believe w ill have a
far-reaching influence on Oregon's
economy
And
in the process
it ad
dresses one of the many problems
associated with the tort reform issue
generally and the lia b ility insurance
problem specifically
The measure is Senate B ill 303, pre-
session introduced at the request of
the Joint Interim Judiciary Commit
tee for the Business l-aw Section of
the Oregon State Bar It took only
eight days from its first hearing to
pass the Senate without opposition
and seven days to clear the House,
where it attracted only one dissen
ting vote
It was signed by Gov Neil
Goldschmidt the first day of April
and becomes effective next June 15.
E ntitled the Oregon Business Cor
poration Act. the final version runs 55
pages, copies of which can be obtain
ed from the Secretary of State's of
fice for $8.25.
Although it attracted little atten
tion from the news media during
enactment, the measure that com
pletely revises some 149 sections of
current law regarding the creation
a nd o p e ra tio n o f c o rp o ra te
businesses in Oregon is the subject of
growing interest in business and
legal circles
From an ecomonic development
standpoint, it is hailed as a step in the
direction taken some tim e ago by
Delaware that has made that tiny
state something of a mecca for cor
porate headquarters
And from the standpoint of the
lia b ility insurance issue, it revamps
requirements regarding individuals
serving on corporate boards of direc
I
to rs
lim itin g th e ir lia b ility
sig n ific a n tly and expanding the
source from which directors can be
obtained
Even a sim plified explanation of
the new act’s 16 m ajor points re
mains somewhat obscure to those un
tutored in the legal Jargon with which
la w y e rs and accountants co m
municate among themselves. And in
dividuals and businesses wishing to
take advantage of the new law w ill
need their assistance.
Existing Oregon corporations need
not reincorporate because of the new
law's passage They w ill continue
present operations but play by the
new rules wherever they apply.
Those wishing to avail themselves of
specific new advantages in the new
law can do so by restating or amen
ding existing bylaws.
Generally speaking, the new law
streamlines current corporation law
enacted in 1953 and amended
rep ea te dly ever since
It also
reorganizes that which had become
an expensive and time-consuming
hixigepodge It enables corporations
to manage their affairs with much
greater efficiency and eliminates
present provisions based only on
historical practice and not in the best
interests of business procedures to
day
It also w ill be a valuable addition to
other factors that combine to attract
firm s to establish physical corporate
headquarters in one state or another
Nothing now prevents a firm from in
corporating in one state and having
its headquarter in another But it's
certainly more convenient to be able
to centralize in the area where the
most advantageous corporate law
applies
It would appear Oregon is poised to
take another new and innovative step
toward its economic comeback
< "
A*
***Z$r% .
*-’ ** **
GEPHARDTS TIGER
‘Volcanoes' erupt into full-scale fight
The Night of the Chocolate Cupcakes
keeps playing reruns in my head
I don't know why. maybe because
Mother's Day is coming Maybe
because, having raised a set of teen
agers of my own, I realize now what a
rare night it was.
Mothers never know what they'll
be remembered for All the meals
cooked and floors swept and nights
spent sitting up and thermometers
squinted at and prom dresses stitch
ed u n til 2 a m and the kids
remember something dumb like
chocolate cupcakes
My c h ild h o o d fr ie n d , C lin t,
remembered my mom's cupcakes
• They w ere," he said, some 35 years
and dozens of gourmet experiences
later, "the best things 1 have ever
eaten.”
He remembered the days we would
come tearing in from outside, d irty,
knees scraped, bare feet tracking the
asphalt tile floor, and sit down to cold
m ilk and hot cupcakes No nonsense
about allowing them to cool No fuss
with frosting No piddling around
with the niceties of inserting each
cupcake paper in a m uffin pan
Mom would m ix the cupcakes from
scratch and memory No recipe We
knew what was happening when we
heard the drumm ing beat of the
spoon whipping the twitter No tim e to
Sharon Nosbtt
get out the electric m ixer, either. She
would deal three dozen cupcake
papers out on a cookie sheet as slick
as a Keno blackjack dealer and slop
the batter into each cup No tidy cup
cakes these The batter dripped over
the sides of some form ing lovely
c ru n c h y c ru s ts . T hey b u lge d
freeform from their papers
We ate them so hot that the steam
burst out the sides when we pulled
the paper off When she cut us off. to
save some cupcakes for supper i we
ate supper instead of dinner in those
days), we would content ourselves
with licking the crumbs out of the
cupcake papers
Moni probably made a quarter of a
m illion cupcakes during those years
These days she tends more toward
tortes and other fancy stuff But then,
with an afternoon of tractor driving
waiting or washing to hang up, the
slap-dash cupcakes were her best ef
fort
The Night of the Chocolate Cup
cakes was probably not the last tim e
she made them, but it is the last tim e
I remember.
My brother and 1 were teen-agers
by then We were s till a fa m ily, but a
fa m ily with teen-agers is a fa m ily go
ing through the quite natural process
of growing apart Mom had given up
the tractor for a desk job in Portland
and that meant an hour-long com
mute on the bus But that night she
decided at the last m inute to slap
dash her cupcakes together She was
out of practice and the cupcakes fell
slightly When she took them out of
the oven, each had a dim ple sunk in
the top. small chocolate volcanoes
She thought a minute, reached for
a bag of marshmallows, popped a
marshmallow in each crater and
stuck them under the broiler until the
molten marshmallow began to bub
ble like w arm , white lava.
She plopped a still-w arm cupcake
on each plate without comment. My
brother, who all his life viewed each
new food experience as an attem pt to
poison him, leaned closely over his
cupcake, peered down on the warm
m arshmallow and asked, "W hat is
this'’ "
I shall never know why, but an evil
glint came into my father's eye. He
reached over, grabbed my brother by
the back of the head and pushed his
face into the cupcake
Strings of m arshmallow connected
my brother to his plate They severed
as he turned, reached for a another
cupcake, twisted and planted the
gooey confection right between my
father's eyes.
It was the start of a knock-down,
drag-out food fight We had never
done it before and we would never do
it again My mother's in itia l cries of
protest dissolved into laughter as
m arshmallow and cake crumbs ex
ploded across the kitchen We laugh
ed so hard we cried And the more we
cried the funnier it got 1 don't
remember who cleaned up the mess.
But days after the marshmallow was
wiped away, the laughter continued
to erupt without warning
Only a few years later my father
died Mom started a career My
brother and 1 grew up to teach our
children not to play with their food
But sometimes the reruns play in my
head I can taste the chocolate cup
cakes And feel the marshmallow
Letters to the editor
Senior citizens
upset about cuts
Members of the senior center and
seniors of the Sandy area are very
upset about the news that the City
Council is cutting our programs
We seniors voted for approval of
the tax base We were guaranteed
certain services
Now the city has turned on seniors
and our program is being cut
drastically
The Sandy Senior Center is one of
the most active in Clackamas Coun
ty. Yes, there are people outside the
city lim its that enjoy our center also
That's OK. They shop here in Sandy
along w ith volunteering their ser
vices to help others who are less fo r
tunate and to help operate the center
The Golden Age Club has been very
supportive of the center for many
years, installing ceiling fans in the
dining room, purchasing pianos and
other necessary equipment.
The programs and trips the seniors
go on are all supported by user fees
The budget committee says it is
necessary to cut our budget to fund
streets After this year where is the
m oney to p ro v id e s tre e t im
provements coming fro m ’’
The recreation department is very
im portant also Many people of all
ages enjoy this program
Could it be possible for the budget
committee to take a little from other
departments as w ell’’
I am very upset about this situation
when I see the many people who
benefit from our center The center is
helping seniors in their 70s, 80s and
90s stay active, including some m
adult foster homes and nursing
homes
Gretchen Chilton
Sandy
Senior center
cuts it disaster
I am w riting concerning the cuts in
the senior center budget In my opi
nion, cutting $¿48.941 from the present
budget w ill be disastrous to the pro
gram
1 realize that times are rough I feel
for the budget committee that must
"w re s tle " with these problems I do
not have any magical solutions but I
do hop«* there is some way to avoid
such drastic cuts.
The center is the " lif e ” of many
people These same people have paid
taxes and supported good causes in
the Sandy community for years I
feel that they are deserving of a good
senior center
Evelyn Peterson
Sandy
T w o deserve n
standing ovation
I think everyone m the area should
give a "standing ovation" to Marge
Jacoby and Mort Spence for the
many hours of hard work they have
put in on the landscaping of the
"tria n g e '' at the west end of town
I realize there were many other
people involved including Pat T ille r
and Jim Gardiner and others, but
these two were out there working
many times when no one else was
around
Thanks Marge and Mort
D arrell Dempster
Sandy
Sandy Post
le tte r policy
le tte rs to the editor should be
typed, double-spaced and signed An
address and telephone num ber
should also be provided, although on
ly the name of the letter w rite r and
the city or area he is from w ill be
published
Ix 'tte r w riters may also wish to in
clude a title or office held if it is ap
propriate considering the subject
m atter of the letter
The news deadline of noon Tuesday
is also the deadline for letters to the
editor.
le tte rs should be accurate, free of
libelous rem arks and in good taste